21 



Chretien. When drying pears on a small scale they may be 

 rinsed in brine water just after having been cut. If they are 

 then sulphured an ideal colour is obtained. Pears are cut in two, 

 the seeds are removed by a spoon (tea) or the point of a knife. 

 As mentioned before, sulphuring is of the utmost importance. 

 When the fruit is freshly cut it is then that the sulphur can do 

 its work best. If fruit has once lost its colour it cannot be re- 

 stored. Buyers always consider the colour of pears more im- 

 portant than the size. 



PRUNES. 



Prunes are allowed to drop : then picked from the ground. 

 Towards the latter part of the season the trees are gently shaken. 

 The higher the percentage of sugar the better quality will be the 

 dried prune. The latest machinery employed in the dipping of 

 prunes is the combined dipper and grader. When it is impossible 

 to use machinery dipping is done by hand. Two pots of a suit- 

 able size are built in side by side. The one contains lye water 

 in proportion of two pounds lye to forty gallons of water, which 

 must be kept boiling, and the other contains pure hot (not 

 boiling) water. The prunes are dumped into a wire or a wicker 

 basket and lowered into the lye water for about fifteen seconds, 

 then lifted out and rinsed in the hot water. They are then spread 

 on trays, which are carried out to the field. The object of the 

 lye water is to crack the skin just slightly, thus causing them to 

 dry so much better. The pure hot water serves the purpose of 

 washing off the lye. which will prove injurious to the prune if 

 not washed off. If dipping is carried on throughout the day the 

 water in both pots should be renewed. Dirty or sugary water 

 will destroy the bloom natural to the prune. Prunes are stirred 

 once or twice in their course of drying. They should be picked 

 up before they rattle on the trays, and yet they should be dry at 

 the stone. Sometimes certain prunes will turn a dull chocolate 

 colour. This is due in some cases to weak lye water, but it is, 

 often the result of late and excessive irrigation. Another result 

 of late rains or irrigation is heavy shrinkage. Normally three 

 pounds of fresh prunes will give one pound of dried. Prunes 

 will take from ten to fifteen davs to drv. 



CANNING. 



In our 1899 Catalogue we said : " There is still no life in the 

 canning branch of our Industry. We think, however, that no 

 enterprise has yet been justified in this direction, as only fruit 

 of the very best quality is suitable for canning, and at present 

 the value of such fruit is so high in the Colonies that canning is 

 really out of the question. 



